He has been telling crowds in Wisconsin that he hit a golf ball 270 yards out and it landed on a floating green in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, last month. “Wow, that’s a really long shot,” he said here..

As for shooting, Mr. Santorum says he put 14 consecutive shots from a revolver on target at a gun range in Louisiana last week. He’s apparently not too bad at baseball either, and he offers a recent video of him taking batting practice at Louisiana State University as proof. “That became a little bit of a YouTube sensation because I was hitting the ball pretty good,” Mr. Santorum said of the video, viewed 22,000 times.

On Wednesday in Lacrosse, Wis., Mr. Santorum visited his third bowling alley in five days. He suggested he and Mitt Romney should ditch the state’s primary next Tuesday and instead decide the outcome on a bowling match.Along with some regular stump lines, he warned a young man against using a pink bowling ball. “You’re not going to use a pink ball. We’re not going to let you do that,” Mr. Santorum said.

When Mr. Santorum arrived at a bowling alley here Saturday, he declared that his bowling skills would offer yet another contrast between himself and President Barack Obama, who famously bowled a 37 in seven frames while campaigning in Pennsylvania in 2008. Mr. Obama’s sport is basketball.

“You’re going to have someone who knows how to bowl,” the former senator said, “someone who grew up like you.”

On Saturday, he bowled three strikes in a row. When he struggled to do the same Wednesday, he told a local TV station, “You know, I think some of the reporters noted correctly I have a dead arm a little bit. It’s like everything else in the campaign you have to fight through it.”

Aides say the athletics reflect a man who is deeply competitive. For instance, Mr. Santorum celebrated his Saturday win in the Louisiana GOP primary by playing shuffleboard at a Green Bay, Wis., sports bar. He won the first match 7 to 1, he boasted to his campaign manager as he marked the score on a chalkboard.

But Mr. Santorum also explicitly uses sports for political purposes. In Wisconsin, he mocked Mitt Romney for acknowledging at the Daytona 500 last month that while he wasn’t an ardent follower of NASCAR, he knows some of the team owners. Mr. Santorum, by contrast, sponsored a car in the race.

“I don’t know any owners of the cars,” Mr. Santorum said after he called Mr. Romney a “Wall Street financier.” “I know that when you sponsor a NASCAR car, as we did in the Daytona 500, you’re supporting a sport that people want to watch, and so you’re out there on the side of the folks that you want to relate to.”

Ann Rodewald, a Republican from Sheboygan, said it’s reminiscent of the approach she takes when she’s trying to teach reading to grade school students. “I grew up selling cars,” said Ms. Rodewald. “You find the common denominator.”

Of course, presidential campaigns, with their traveling press corps and massive security details, can be an awkward fit in a small town bowling alley. As Mr. Santorum tried to get in a few frames Saturday, he angered some local Moose International members who were trying to finish up a bowling tournament.

“Oh my God, it’s a political frenzy right now,” said Gary Beck, the regional manager for the Wisconsin State Moose Association. “This is supposed to be the Moose bowling tournament and now all of a sudden it’s turned into the Rick Santorum throw-me-a-ball.”

Other bowlers said they at least appreciated the candidate knew how to bowl.

As for Mr. Santorum’s marksmanship, Tom Kind, a 60-year-old who runs a rental business, said he likes the effort, but remains skeptical of the candidate’s abilities.

“I watched him shoot on TV. I didn’t see any holes in the paper,” said Mr. Kind, who said that nonetheless he’s leaning towards voting for Mr. Santorum. “And I looked pretty hard.”

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.